How did your life outside of school contribute to your academic success? What role, if any, did your family play? How did your life outside of school influence how you performed in school and what you chose to study?
There are two things from my childhood that impacted who I am as a learner. The first thing is that I was raised to be very independent from a young age. As a result, I am mainly an independent learner, meaning that when I come across a problem that I don't know how to solve, I tackle it by myself until I figure it out because I never learned to ask for help. Being an independent learner has its pros and cons though. While it does make me an excellent problem solver, it stopped me from asking questions in class and pushing the boundaries beyond what I could do myself. As I got older and class participation became mandatory, I needed to adjust this way of thinking and learn to not be afraid to ask questions (although I still struggle with speaking up in class). This brings me to the second thing that impacted myself as a learner - fear. Because fear was present during much of my childhood, certain things were more difficult for me. On the one hand, I was afraid of failure, so that resulted in me not giving up and doing the very best that I could. On the other hand, fear stunted me because when I'm afraid, I freeze. My mind shuts down, and I can't think, which clearly can be a problem in school. When I would take tests, for example, if I wasn't sure how to do a problem, I'd be afraid that I was going to fail which resulted in me not being able to think, and consequently not do as well as I could have. However, most of my teachers were very understanding about my situation, and this is definitely something that I will make sure that I do as a teacher.
I believe that I was drawn to mathematics because I learned to problem solve so early on. Using logic to manipulate and solve problems that you've never seen before is what I love about math. My family is also very math and science oriented though, and so I'm sure that played a role too. The family games that we played were always logic puzzles, and even the discussions we had were mathematical. For example, this past Christmas's dinner conversation was a debate about countable infinity! Growing up in a family that valued knowledge and learning, along with a love for the sciences, clearly impacted my academic interests and success.
Non-School Academic Influences
How did your life outside of school contribute to your academic success? What role, if any, did your family play? How did your life outside of school influence how you performed in school and what you chose to study?
There are two things from my childhood that impacted who I am as a learner. The first thing is that I was raised to be very independent from a young age. As a result, I am mainly an independent learner, meaning that when I come across a problem that I don't know how to solve, I tackle it by myself until I figure it out because I never learned to ask for help. Being an independent learner has its pros and cons though. While it does make me an excellent problem solver, it stopped me from asking questions in class and pushing the boundaries beyond what I could do myself. As I got older and class participation became mandatory, I needed to adjust this way of thinking and learn to not be afraid to ask questions (although I still struggle with speaking up in class). This brings me to the second thing that impacted myself as a learner - fear. Because fear was present during much of my childhood, certain things were more difficult for me. On the one hand, I was afraid of failure, so that resulted in me not giving up and doing the very best that I could. On the other hand, fear stunted me because when I'm afraid, I freeze. My mind shuts down, and I can't think, which clearly can be a problem in school. When I would take tests, for example, if I wasn't sure how to do a problem, I'd be afraid that I was going to fail which resulted in me not being able to think, and consequently not do as well as I could have. However, most of my teachers were very understanding about my situation, and this is definitely something that I will make sure that I do as a teacher.
I believe that I was drawn to mathematics because I learned to problem solve so early on. Using logic to manipulate and solve problems that you've never seen before is what I love about math. My family is also very math and science oriented though, and so I'm sure that played a role too. The family games that we played were always logic puzzles, and even the discussions we had were mathematical. For example, this past Christmas's dinner conversation was a debate about countable infinity! Growing up in a family that valued knowledge and learning, along with a love for the sciences, clearly impacted my academic interests and success.
Katrina's Personal Profile